Editing Perfect Dark Zero (section)

==Development==
Development of ''Perfect Dark Zero'' began on the [[GameCube]] with a very small team of roughly ten people.<ref name="CVG interview 2"/> At the time, [[Nintendo]] had a 49% stake in [[Rare (company)|Rare]], making the company a Nintendo [[second-party developer]].<ref name="Second-party"/> According to lead designer Chris Tilston, "it was basically [[Prototype|prototyping]], finding out where we could go and how we could get there".<ref name="CVG interview 2"/> When Rare was purchased by [[Microsoft]] in 2002,<ref name="MS Buys Rare"/> the project was transferred to the [[Xbox (console)|Xbox]] console and the game's multiplayer mode was redesigned for Xbox Live online play.<ref name="CVG interview 2"/> Tilston revealed that at one point they got to 50 players online simultaneously, but the graphics "just couldn't handle it".<ref name="CVG interview 2"/> Since the initial version of the game pushed the original Xbox hardware "pretty hard", the project was ultimately transferred to the Xbox successor, the [[Xbox 360]].<ref name="CVG interview 2"/> Tilston revealed that the original Xbox version was "about 12 months away" from completion when the shift occurred.<ref name="Edge article"/>

Initially, the game had a heavy [[anime]] style and Joanna Dark received many alterations throughout the development process.<ref name="EG anime style"/> Lead Art Director [[Wil Overton]] explained that they "wanted to bring her back in line with the way Rare do things. [...] We sorta wanted to stylize her up a bit and make her more iconic".<ref name="Overton interview"/> However, the designers ultimately decided to tone down the styling of the game a bit.<ref name="Overton interview"/> The Xbox 360 gave the developers more possibilities to include what they always wanted and allowed them to create the game's co-operative mode, which was one of the first that could be played via Xbox Live.<ref name="CVG interview 2"/> Designing the co-operative mode over Xbox Live was very challenging for the developers. According to Duncan Botwood, who was responsible for most of the multiplayer, "it was quite an effort to put it in, to be honest. You have to cater for a number of eventualities you just don't get normally. We think we pulled it off, and because we pulled it off, other people might feel inspired to put the effort in, and we think that's a good thing".<ref name="1UP afterthoughts"/>

''Perfect Dark Zero'' is also one of the first games that uses [[Havok (software)|Havok]]'s HydraCore [[physics engine]], which was specifically designed for multi-core video game systems like the Xbox 360.<ref name="GS Havok Engine"/> The game's renderer engine employs more advanced graphic technologies than was possible in the [[Sixth generation of video game consoles|previous console generation]], including [[parallax mapping]], [[ambient occlusion]], [[subsurface scattering]], and [[High-dynamic-range rendering|high dynamic range]].<ref name="IGN Rare Epilogue 4"/> The soundtrack of the game was primarily composed by David Clynick, who worked with [[Grant Kirkhope]] on the original Nintendo 64 game's score.<ref name="IGN PDZ OST"/> New York-based group MorissonPoe contributed two songs to the score—the opening theme song "Glitter Girl (Evil Side)" and the closing credits theme "Pearl Necklace"—while DJs Kepi and Kat composed the game's nightclub theme.<ref name="IGN PDZOS review"/>

The cover mode was designed to enhance the stealth aspect of the game and the third-person perspective was needed to allow players to see the character they were playing.<ref name="CVG interview 2"/> The idea of bringing the game into a total third-person perspective was rejected as the shooting "works better" in first-person view, explained Tilston.<ref name="CVG interview 2"/> Developers decided not to include a jumping function since they felt it goes against the nature of the genre.<ref name="1UP afterthoughts"/> Botwood pointed out that it can "look damn stupid when you see other players doing it".<ref name="1UP afterthoughts"/> For this reason, the team implemented moves such as climbing obstacles or, more specifically, the combat roll, which makes players harder to hit since it breaks the game's [[Aimbot|auto-aim lock]].<ref name="1UP afterthoughts"/> The transition between first and third-person view with some moves took a lot of work so that they did not become disorientating.<ref name="CVG interview 2"/> A first-person roll was implemented at one time, but it was ultimately dropped.<ref name="CVG interview 2"/>

Because ''Perfect Dark Zero'' was intended to be an Xbox 360 [[launch title]], the last stage of development was very challenging and several features had to be canceled so that the game could meet the launch deadline.<ref name="JS PDZ scaled down"/> The number of players in multiplayer matches had to be reduced from 50 to 32, and a "dataDyne TV" mode that would have allowed players to upload and watch multiplayer matches over Xbox Live was eventually rejected.<ref name="JS PDZ scaled down"/> Final development for the Xbox 360 was very rushed. The order was given to produce the discs five days before the Microsoft certification was complete. Rare later stated they felt very confident they would pass, but it was a significant risk producing 700,000 disks if a bug turned up.<ref name="EG risks"/> According to Botwood, "very few people believed we could make launch, but everything came together in time and it was out there for day one".<ref name="IGN Rare Epilogue 1"/>

The actual development of the game took five years overall to complete and spanned three platforms: the GameCube, the Microsoft Xbox and the Xbox 360.<ref name="CVG interview 1"/> Tilston remarked that, throughout the course of development, the team noticed how the [[video game industry]] had evolved as computing and graphics power increased, and how earlier games like ''[[GoldenEye 007 (1997 video game)|GoldenEye 007]]'' and ''[[Donkey Kong Country]]'' where their development costs were minimal could easily be profitable with a few programmers.<ref name="EG ex-Rare"/> Tilston also revealed that the team behind ''Perfect Dark Zero'' was composed of roughly 25 people for most of the project, which was "ridiculously" small compared to [[Seventh generation of video game consoles|Xbox 360 generation]] standards where there are 100 or 200 people working on a team.<ref name="EG ex-Rare"/> Despite this, ''Perfect Dark Zero'', from a development cost, made four times its money back.<ref name="EG ex-Rare"/>